Promise 106 Gen. 48:21

Gen. 48:21 - "Then Israel said to Joseph, 'Behold I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.'" Before Jacob died he told Joseph that God will bless him and he will return him back to the land of the fathers. He said this with full confidence and assurance, but we will find that, yes, Joseph does get blessed by God, but he himself stays in Egypt. Jacob is passing on the promise to Joseph so that Joseph can pass it on to his sons. It wont be till many years later that they actually arrive back to the land of their fathers. Sometimes when we hear very confident and assured blessings, promises or prophesies about the future, we don't know if we will be the one's who actually will receive the promise or if we will be the one's to pave the way for others after us to receive it. Either way, God will bless us and we will be able to reap the promise regardless if we receive it or not, as we walk faithfully toward it.

Promise 105 Gen. 48:15

Gen. 48:15 - "He blessed Joseph, and said, 'The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day....'" While Jacob is blessing Joseph's boys he is explaining to them how God has been with him. I never really caught this before, but it wasn't David, who wrote Psalm 23, that was the the first to make the comparison of the Lord being a Shepherd. Usually when we think of Ps. 23 we see pictures of Jesus tending sheep, but look what Jacob is saying, "The God who is before time has been MY Shepherd my whole life" (all 147 years of it). The awesome God Almighty, the Creator of Heavens and Earth, the One powerful enough to breathe all things, the whole universe into existence lovingly walks with us, cares for us, guides us, carries us, finds us when we are lost, sheers the old self away and makes us new. The Almighty Holy Creator is our intimate, very good and loving shepherd who is with us every moment of the day. Thank You Lord!

Promise 104 Gen. 48:4

Gen. 48:4 - "and He said to me, 'Behold I will make you fruitfula nad numerous, and I will make you a company of peopl, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.'" Jacob is passing on the message of the promise to Joseph and his boys. It originated with Abraham and it continues down the line. We must always continue passing on the promises and blessings of God to the next generation. One, so that it is remembered and two, so it is received. One of the problems in many churches is that they have forgotten the promises and the blessings of the past. They think growth, prosperity and personal encounters of the power of God died after the time of scriptures. So now, they are not choosing to accept the inheritance that was meant for them to have. They are not seeing growth, prosperity and are not asking for great encounters because they don't know that they can. They aren't seeing God's super natural, Holy Spirit work in them and through them because they aren't asking. They aren't asking because somewhere down the line, someone dropped the ball and forgot to pass on the blessing by not passing on the promise. It's so sad! Go back and claim the promise and ask the big things of God, claim your rightful inheritance. If you don't understand what this means, ask the Holy Spirit, He'll tell you what it means.

Promise 103 Gen. 47:31

Gen. 47:31 - "He (Jacob) said (to Joseph) 'Swear to me.' So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed." Jacob wanted nothing more than to be buried with his other family members. When Joseph promised him that it would happen the internal joy and peace he felt collapsed him into worship. At age 147 Jacob worshipped God once again for the blessings He has provided. How many times do we just breathe a "Thank God" after we feel some relief over something, but then it just stays there? I confess that I so quickly move on to the next thing instead of taking the time to really worship God for His blessings. Lord forgive us for just moving on. I want to be like Jacob who lays his head down to meet his Heavenly Father and say a proper "Thank you, Daddy" to Him.

Promise 102 Gen. 46:33-34; 47:7

Gen. 46:33-34; 47:7 - "When Pharaoh calls you and says, 'What is your occupation?' you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers.' that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.' Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh." Here Jacob is supposed to be from the most loathsome group of people in all of Egypt and he approaches the Pharaoh, who is supposed to be "untouchable" by any person, and Jacob blesses him. God's favour in the eyes of man! Jacob really didn't have too much to fear because of Joseph's position in the house. But what about the Pharaoh? Here he allowed that man who is supposed to stay quite a distance from him, in that culture, to be drawn near to him. He even speaks with Jacob, then let's him bless him. He obviously wasn't bothered about what other people were thinking at the time. God gives us favour to fearlessly approach those who do not care for us, and bless them. Not only that, He can soften their hearts to us so that they will receive it.

Promise 101 Gen. 45:28; 46:3-4

Gen. 45:28; 46:3-4 - "Then Israel said, 'It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.' He said, 'I am God, the God of your fathers do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes'." Israel had a very difficult decision to make in his old age, and that was to uproot his whole household and to move out of the place that God had sent him to. Yet he was willing to take that step of faith . It was after that decision to go that God showed up and assured him that He would be with him. God assures him that he is still on the right track concerning the covenant promise that he will become a great nation. Too often we wait to hear God's voice before we take any action. We hold back on stepping out because we riddle ourselves with the "what ifs." What if it isn't God's will for me? But what if it is God's will and you are too chicken to test it and see? God doesn't put dreams and desires in our hearts just to tease us. If our dreams and desires are aligned with scriptures and within God's character, then I say "God for it!" God loves it when we step out in faith, trusting Him. The promise here is that He will show up and either confirm His presence in it or will stray you away, but either way He will make it clear to you.

Promise 100 Gen. 46:1-2

Gen. 46:1-2 - "So Israel had set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, 'Jacob, Jacob!' and he said 'Here am I'." God seems to speak to us most, not when we are crying out to Him, but when we are worshipping Him. The very act of offering sacrifices at Beersheba, by stopping along the journey, taking time out to remember God, was a form of worship during the day. When we too, stop what we are doing, take time out and turn our eyes on Him and worship Him, that's when He usually meets us. That's when we feel the Holy Spirit presence. Whenever I end the day in either worship or listening to a powerful sermon combined with worship. I can never sleep afterwards, the Lord just stays with me and keeps me up wanting to talk. He so desires to talk with us, He's just waiting for us to come to Him with a sacrifice of attention, a planned time out with Him so that He can share what's on His heart for us. Put God on your diary or schedule today and see what He has to say!